Tag Archives: Oliver Perez

Mike Pelfrey gets the ball once more after tonight, so that gives him two opportunities to attempt to wash the sour taste that is the 2009 season out of his mouth and from our memories. Maybe it is possible for him to leave for winter on a positive note, but this is a guy who concerns me.

After last season’s positive big step, Pelfrey has slid back. Maybe not to square one, but not that much better. You’ll hear talk about him losing concentration because of his marriage and child, but that’s only a weak excuse.

Pelfrey still throws the ball hard and injuries aren’t an issue. However, much like Oliver Perez, his pitch selection and execution wander. He loses focus and can’t close out hitters or an inning. He’s prone to giving up runs in bunches. He easily gets rattled. How else can you explain all the balks, including three in one game?

Maddening, is he has these moments where you think he’s coming around, but he has far too many of the other kind. He can be dominant for four innings and lose it in the fifth. He can throw seven scoreless in one start and not make it out of the second in his next.

Pelfrey (10-11, 5.10) has a mind-boggling 7.04 ERA in his last five starts, and has lost four of his last six games. He has been particularly brutal lately, giving up a pair of two-run homers last Friday against Washington to Ryan Zimmerman and Josh Bard. Pelfrey also had the worst start of his career in his last start against the Braves, July 17, when he gave up nine runs in 1/3 innings.

Lifetime, he is 2-4 with a 6.36 ERA in eight starts against the Braves. The Mets have lost 12 of their past 15 games.

Just a reminder, I don’t know what kind of Internet access I’ll have tonight, but will do my best.

There are jerks, first-class jerks and Milton Bradley. One of the all-time bad guys in sport, Bradley has been suspended for the remainder of the season by the Chicago Cubs for his conduct.

He has two more years left on his contract – that the Cubs would give him three seasons just goes to show how clueless that organization is – but has already worn out his welcome. So, with not much in the way of pennant races to write about, the Hot Stove season has already started for some writers, Jon Heyman for example, who wonders it the Mets and Cubs will discuss an exchange at two seemingly worthless properties: Bradley for Oliver Perez.

I couldn’t believe it when I first read it, and still think there’s no merit to the concept. For one thing, Perez is a young, left-handed pitcher with potential, but has remained an uncashed check. While it seems hopeless at times, there is a chance he could be turned around with the right pitching coach. Perhaps a change of scenery would do it, but not if it meant getting Bradley in return.

Bradley, and I don’t really like saying this, is simply a bad guy. He’s a psychopath. He’s like Barry Bonds, Albert Belle and Carl Everett. He’s simply a powder keg in search of a spark. He’s ready to go off at any time.

Here’s how bad he is: He hit .321 last year for Texas and the Rangers couldn’t wait to see him go.

Here’s the most important stat you need to know about Bradley: This is his ninth major league season and he’s been with six teams already. Undoubtedly, there will be a team stupid enough to become the seventh.

Let’s hope it isn’t the Mets.

Say what you will about Perez, who might not ever make it in New York. But, he’s not a bad guy. Bradley has $20 million left over the next two years which is a lot of money to shell out for bad will.

Of all the injured Mets who had a chance of returning this season, seeing John Maine again was easily the most important.

Billy Wagner returned, showed he was healthy and sent the Red Sox. We are finally seeing Carlos Beltran, although he might still be gimpy. Mets doctors say Johan Santana and Oliver Perez should make successful recoveries from surgery and be ready for spring training.

MAINE: As fragile as his bobblehead doll.

Then again, that’s what they said about Maine.

Maine, on the disabled list since June 7 with a pinched nerve in his throwing shoulder, will throw a simulated game tomorrow, and barring any complications, start the second game of Sunday’s double-header at Philadelphia.

“It feels good,’’ Maine told reporters yesterday. “Strength-wise, it’s not quite 100 percent. But as far as the pain, it’s just not there. I think with a good off-season, I’ll be able to put it behind me. It should go away and should be fine.’’

The operative word being off-season. If Maine somehow didn’t pitch again this year, the Mets would have nothing to evaluate and might opt to non-tender him a contract. The risk being somebody else would take a chance on him and he’d bounce back.

Personally, I think they’ll tender the contract anyway because the money is rather small and would be for one year, and because the Mets don’t have that many minor league options, and they are unlikely to splurge on the free-agent and trade markets. The inclination wildly spend is not there. Look on whom they passed last winter (Derek Lowe and Randy Wolf).

However, should Maine make it out of Sunday’s 60-pitch audition without difficulty, he should get three more starts before the end of the season. Four starts is roughly a short spring training, but it this case it might be enough for the Mets to start formulating some plans.

Maine has as much to gain as the Mets by pitching in September, because if he proves he’s healthy, and the Mets inexplicably don’t tender a contract, he would enter the free-agent market.

If the Mets are able to pencil in Maine for one rotation spot, it would eliminate one of the many headaches the Mets will have to contend with this winter.

Although there has been some discussion about putting Maine in the bullpen, I don’t see the Mets using this window for that kind of experiment.

If a lost season is all about searching for answers the Mets are still asking questions when it comes to Mike Pelfrey, whose only consistent aspect of his game is running up his pitches to 100 by the fifth inning.

PELFREY: Giving up the long ball.

Last season, which began under pitching coach Rick Peterson and ended under Dan Warthen, Pelfrey showed breakout signs going 13-11 with a 3.72 ERA. He explained he was a fastball pitcher and became more aggressive in challenging hitters with that pitch and not fooling around with his secondary pitches when he needed an out. His pitches had enough movement to where a pitch down the middle could move to the corners.

Last night’s loss was just another in a long line of disappointing performances. He was consistently behind in the count, and as his habit, would let one inning get away from him. Given a walk, or an error, or a bad call, Pelfrey lets it stay with him and his concentration would wander. Big innings find him frequently.

All those balks are an indication of a lack of focus.

Pelfrey is 9-10 with a 5.03 ERA, and while it is possible to equal last season’s mark it wouldn’t be indicative of his year. In 150 1/3 innings, hitters are batting .288 against him and he has given up 233 baserunners. Sixth of them have been walks, compared to 64 all last year. Pelfrey gave up 86 runs this year; already he has allowed 91. He has pitched like a No. 5 starter.

PELFREY: Another early exit.

Yet, there are times he seems untouchable. There are games when you start to think he’s turned the corner, but in the next one runs into a brick wall.

He does sound an awful like Oliver Perez.

We must remember, Pelfrey hasn’t taken the progressive road to the major leagues. He’s been force fed to a large degree and is learning on the job. There’s enough talent there to where the Mets shouldn’t give up on him. I was glad he wasn’t sent to Minnesota in the package for Johan Santana.

I don’t know to the degree having two pitching coaches has hampered his development, or if that’s a moot point. Pelfrey hasn’t gone off on his coaches.

At his present rate Pelfrey won’t come close to the 200 innings he threw last season. But, it has been largely due to ineffectiveness than injury.

As the Mets prepare for next season, Pelfrey is one of the few givens on the staff as in he’ll be back. However, the Mets need to see development in 2010. If not, he’ll go from a No. 2 to a No. 4 in a heartbeat, and not soon after that a No. 5 to just another flameout bust.

Pelfrey is young, but he’s also been around to where he knows he must show something soon.

Third baseman David Wright will be activated from the disabled list today and be in the line-up against Colorado. Manager Jerry Manuel said Wright would play tonight and tomorrow, then rest Thursday before the team’s series against the Chicago Cubs. Wright will be wearing the new ultra-protective batting helmets.

WRIGHT: To play tonight.

Johan Santana and Oliver Perez underwent successful surgery today at the Hospital of Special Surgery in Manhattan. Santana had bone chips removed from his left elbow and Perez had scar tissue removed from the patella tendon of his right knee. The team said both should be ready for spring training. That they had surgery with a month remaining is in their favor, unlike Jose Reyes, whose agent said surgery might not be until the end of the month. Santana was 13-9 with a 3.13 ERA in 25 starts; Perez was 3-4 with a 6.82 ERA in 14 starts.

BELTRAN: Rehab begins tomorrow.

Carlos Beltran was re-examined by Dr. David Altchek today and cleared to begin a rehab assignment tomorrow at Brooklyn. Beltran is on the disabled list with a bruised right knee and reports are he could be facing microfracture surgery in the off-season. If letting Beltran play again this season for the first time this season since June 22 is for his own peace of mind, then go for it. But, it this is just to trot him out there in an attempt to win a few games then I think it’s not a good plan and they explore the surgery and get that done quickly.

Today is when rosters can be expanded up to 40, but the Mets aren’t planning much immediately, with only 22-year-old catcher Josh Thole joining the team in Denver. With free-agent-to-be Brian Schneider not expected to return, Thole could the laying the groundwork for next spring.

First base prospect Ike Davis was added to the United States’ roster for the World Cup, Sept. 9-27, in Europe. Davis, 22, was hitting .307 with a .386 OBP, 26 extra base hits and 41 RBI in 54 games at Double-A. After the World Cup, Davis will play in the Arizona Fall League.